Dragon Ball: Zero Era
by Kiyza
Summary: A story about what might have happened if Piccolo Daimao killed Son Goku. Note: This story is far from my best work and on permanent hiatus.
1. Chapter 1: Birth of a Demon

Chapter 1- Birth of a Demon

Dragon Ball: Zero Era

Disclaimer: It's pretty obvious, but I don't own Dragon Ball. If I did, this wouldn't be a fanfiction, now would it? But it would be pretty awesome if I did, since I'd be rich. But I don't, obviously, and that's why I'm putting this here, so people can't sue me. And even if you did sue me, you wouldn't get a cent (or yen, considering it's Japanese) out of it. I play Phoenix Wright games, so I feel confident that I could find a way out of it.

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Author's Notes:

Yeah, this is my first attempt at a fanfiction. If you started reading it without reading this first, you're probably wondering "What the heck?" But I have a good reason for writing this. I guess I should probably start at the beginning.

Lately, pretty much all of my friends have been borrowing my manga, mostly Dragon Ball because I own all 42 volumes of it, and they have some familiarity with it, since it _was _a popular show back in the day. It's brought up all the time at my school, but I'm not sure if that's due to the fact that a surprising number of students are in to anime.

So a friend of mine has started reading Dragon Ball, and he's up to volume 15 of it now, which if you don't know is halfway through the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. He really seemed to enjoy the Piccolo Daimao arc, though there was one little thing about his fight with Son Goku that he felt needed to be said. Just before Goku blew that hole through Piccolo's chest, he pointed out "Well why didn't he just dodge it?"

I didn't have an answer to this, but in an out of story reason, I guess it would just be anticlimactic. But that kind of got some gears turning in my head. What if he _did_ dodge it? Where would the story the story have gone with majority of the main characters dead and Piccolo Daimao as king of the world? And that's exactly what this fanfiction is about.

The entire story is told from Piccolo's perspective. Not Piccolo Daimao, but his son, who's slightly different in this story.

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Humans always say that they can't remember being born, but I do. Though, perhaps that is because I am not a human.

The farthest back I can remember, it was pitch black. I was nestled within an egg inside of my father's mouth. The next thing I knew, the egg was falling and it hit the ground. At first, I had no idea what had happened, but instinct soon took over. I realized that I needed to get out of this dark prison. I thrashed around a bit before focusing on hitting a single spot. I struck it a few times with a clenched hand before my tiny fist broke through the shell. I made crack wider and pushed my head through one the gap was wide enough.

I examined my surroundings and came to the realization that I was in a room with one other person, my father. To anyone else, he would have been very intimidating. After all, he was known as Piccolo Daimao, The Great Demon King. To a human's eyes, he must have looked quite unusual. The most obvious difference was the color of his skin. It was a deep shade of green, slightly darker than the bright shade that I am. His face had two large, pointed ears and more notably two slender antennae on his forehead. If he smiled, it would reveal a pair of large fangs. Along his arms were a series of slight, vertical indentation. These indentations contoured around large yellow patches of skin with horizontal indentations. At his wrists were three red conjoining bands. Unlike humans, he had four fingers rather than five and each was slightly thicker and ended in a long, black, pointed nail. I myself, looked much like this, but I was smaller in build and didn't have the same angular facial structure.

The outfit that my father wore resembled a martial artist's dogi. It was a dark purple in coloration with a lighter purple sash around his waist. On his chest was the kanji "Ma", meaning "Demon". On his feet were light weighted brown shoes.

But perhaps the most notable thing was one that few humans would notice, his ki; the energy that all living things possess. Compared to any other ki in the area, it was a raging fire in a calm forest. It had a distinctly demonic feeling to it, but being a demon, I felt quite comfortable around it. Considering that he was my father, it was, in a way, soothing.

The first voice I ever heard was his. It was deep and sinister, completely unmistakable.

"It has been a while since I last had a child. Perhaps I ought to tell you why," he said. "I made a wish to have my youth restored, and as you can see, it was. However, around a day ago, I remembered something: Kami. Though I have my youth back, the god who is my "good" counterpart does not. If he were to die, then I would as well, and vice versa. If he were to die of old age, that wouldn't be good for me, now would it? In order to make my reign of terror upon this world last, I would need an heir to take my place when I am gone. That is what you are destined to be."

Though I had just been born, I perfectly understood everything he said. It was almost like the instinct that told me to break free of my egg, but somehow different.

"As for the matter of a name, I figure it would be suiting to name you after myself, Piccolo. Of course, the title of Great Demon King won't be yours for quite a while

"As for what you will wear, an outfit similar to mine would do well."

He extended an index finger and a beam of light shot out of it. The light enveloped my body and miraculously turned into clothes. It looked much like those my father wore, but the shoulders were more elongated and the bottom more closely resembled a tunic, but the kanji "Ma" was still on the front.

"Among all of the children I've had, you are truly unique," he said. "The rest I've though of as minions rather than sons. But something about you is different, special. Perhaps it's because you remind me so much of myself, in more ways than just appearance." He grinned a bit and I could see a bit of one of his fangs. "I can sense my own evil within you, much more so than any of the others. And my power has been rubbing off on you, too. Perhaps one day it might even surpass my own…"

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Author's Notes:

And I think I'll end this with a little bit of foreshadowing. But wait, is it still foreshadowing if I tell you it is? Well, it's not like it matters anyway. It's pretty obvious.

I figured this would be interesting to do in first-person rather than third-person, since I can do a little more with perspective. Also, it's an easy way to get around the fact that Piccolo and his father have the same name.

The title "Zero Era" comes from the fact that this from an alternate era, and because it sounds kind of cool. And if you don't think it does, please review and tell me. If you suggest something better and I can change the title, I'll change it to that.

I've already got the second chapter written down, I just need to do some editing. It should be up by next week. Sorry if it was short and the Author's Notes were long, I'll have a longer chapter soon.


	2. Chapter 2: Piccolo the Demon Prince

Chapter 2- Piccolo the Demon Prince

Dragon Ball: Zero Era

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Disclaimer: Yeah, I still don't own Dragon Ball. Don't expect that to change any time soon. But if it ever does, then I'm going to buy a very fancy house in Beverly Hills.

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Author's Notes:

I'm really enjoying writing this. I've kind of made Piccolo Daimao out to be something like "Daddy Dearest" from hell. That may sound like an odd combination of words, but it's a pretty good description in this context.

* * *

I quickly found that my youth made me very curious about the world around me. For the first few weeks of my life, though, I never strayed from the castle.

The castle was not a particularly large one. My father had it built as a sort of monument to himself, being king of the world. After all, he destroyed the previous one. It was completed quite quickly, in not even a month. Reconstruction was rather simple, since some of the remains of the foundation of the previous one and its basement were still left over. Though there were a few architectural changes to the new one, as it seemed to look rather malevolent. It was a few days after it being built that I was born.

The castle seemed swarming with guards, no matter what hour of the day it was. All of them were human, which was a constant annoyance to me. Why even bother having guards that are so weak? Sometimes I would walk down the halls and the guards would not know who I was. They pointed strange metal weapons, called "guns", at me. The weapons had no point, but a hole that a small projectile would come out of. Should they point these "guns" at me, I would merely grab the end of it and crush it flat. Though it seems a trivial task, it was something very few humans could do.

Once my father was around when one of the incidences took place. Rather than grabbing the gun, he grabbed the human- by the neck. My father held a firm grip and pierced the man's chest and heart with his hand. Bright red blood ran down the man's uniform and my father's arm. He slowly licked a bit of the blood off his arm with a malicious grin on his face. Then he turned to me and extended his blood-covered hand, gesturing to me to lick some off as well. I obliged and tasted a bit of it. It was very unlike the water I had had. It was warmer and a certain flavor to it that I found I enjoyed. My father then retracted his arm and slurped up what was left of it.

The other officers panicked and fled. Word of this spread quite quickly. No one has pointed one of those "guns" at me since.

It wasn't long before I started to explore outside of the castle. Unlike humans, I am not bound to the earth beneath my feet. By manipulating my ki, pushing it underneath myself, I was capable of levitating. Humans sometimes refer to this as "Bukujutsu", meaning "sky dance technique."

I would fly out a ways into an area most would refer to as a wasteland. It was barren and hazardous. There were high mountains and plateaus, and wild beasts roaming around everywhere. Yet for some reason, I felt comfortable there. Something about it felt like home.

I frequently got into encounters with the wild animals there. When I was around six months old, I found myself cornered by a large dinosaur. It had backed me up into the corner of a cliff. It thrust its head forward, with jaws agape. Inside its mouth were teeth like daggers, but I was not afraid in the slightest. I merely jumped off to the side a little ways. But the beast got hold of my arm, tore it off and swallowed it whole. Never before had I been so enraged at someone or something else in my life. To take off the arm of the "Great Demon Prince," as I had named myself, was completely unforgivable. I unleashed a huge wave of ki from hand and completely vaporized the beast, save a few teeth and one eyeball.

But a bigger issue was at hand; my missing arm. I had no idea what I could do about it. Surely no one would hold as much respect to demon king with a missing arm. I stared at the stump left behind for a moment. My violet blood ran down it for nearly a minuet, before something odd happened. It had stopped bleeding. Why? The next thing I knew, I had a thought in my head. Something was telling me that my lost limb was not as big an issue as I thought it to be. My instincts tell me I could simply grow a new one. I focused my ki into what little was left of my arm. The strain was immense, the worst I had felt in my life. Though I tried to resist it, I cried out in pain. The next thing I knew, a new limb shot out of the wound. It had a tingling sensation to it, like that if you cut off circulation to you hand for a while and then regain it. The arm was covered in a whitish fluid, somewhat like mucus.

I was completely awestruck by this. If I could regenerate my arm in a mere instant, what else could I do?

* * *

I spent much of my time out in the wastelands, honing and testing my skills, steadily but quickly gaining strength as I did. And it seemed that my body grew even more quickly at times than my power. At around a year old, I was over four feet tall and quite than capable of taking care of myself. That's far more than any human could say. Around my age, they couldn't hardly talk comprehensibly, let alone fend for themselves.

Once I went and walked around in a human city to see what it was like. It would likely do me some good to learn a little about them. After all, they were to one day become my subjects. I got a lot of strange looks. I couldn't walk down a street without people staring at me, often times transfixed on the kanji on my outfit, since it was the same that my father wore. With time, I realized this and crafted my own outfit. It looked much like my father's but the sash was red and it lacked the "Ma" kanji on the front. I seemed to get slightly less attention this way, though my antennae were still questioned.

I continued training as I did, limiting my interaction with humans greatly. Nearly two years passed until I saw them for an extended period of time again. This time I somewhat disguised myself. I wore turban and a long, white cape. But disguise was far from their only purpose; they were heavily weighted, totaling at nearly 150 pounds. Just by moving about in them, I was training my body.

About two months before my third birthday, I was looking at a place that humans referred to as a "mall." I looked very mature by this time, and was often mistaken for a human around 16 years of age, despite the color of my skin. I walked around it for a few minuets before I noticed something. It was an interesting sort of sound. It had a rhythmical pattern and interesting words to it, like a strange sort of poetry. I looked for the source of the sound and I found a young human sitting down listening to something that she stuck inside her ears. The things inside her ears emitted a sound that seemed to come from a small device that was in her palm. Curious, I walked up behind her and took a look at it.

"What is that?" I asked.

"Ah!" She turned around and screamed. "Who are you!?"

"I could tell you, but you'd be best off not knowing," I answered.

She looked rather embarrassed, yet somewhat frightened at the same time. "It's an iPod. It plays music. I can't believe you don't know. If you want one, they sell them at that store over there for around 30,000 Zenni."

"Thank you," I replied and walked off. Of all of the things that humans have made, this "music" was one of the few things that interested me. Though I didn't know why, but I want to listen to more of it, and it would seem one of these iPods would be the best way. But how to get one? The most obvious course of action would simply be to take one from the store. There haven't been any laws since my father took the throne, so theft was not only legal, but also encouraged. But in order to prevent this from happening, most stores have guards. It would be no problem for me to defeat them, but in doing so, I would show how strong I was, and people would come to recognize me for the demon that I am.

Just then I noticed a flyer on a wall for a peculiar event, known as the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. It was a martial arts tournament with relatively limited rules and few spectators. And there was a cash prize for the winner. It was 500,000 Zenni, which was more than enough to afford an iPod. In a martial arts tournament, my powers wouldn't seem anywhere near as strange, considering the add had a picture of last year's final round, which involved someone using a ki blast. It seemed I would be free to use as well as test my strength with some of the strongest humans the world had to offer, which of course were bound not to be any problem. Who could possibly be a match for me?

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Author's Notes:

Yeah, that's what this story revolves around on for the time being, an iPod. It sounds pretty insane, but that's what makes this unique and tells you I'm the one who wrote it. I kind of had this picture in my head the other night of Piccolo sitting on a couch listening to an iPod while watching something on TV while his father was yelling at him to go terrorize people. Teenagers. But what am I saying? I mean, I'm one too. Maybe it just stems from me listening to my iPod way too much lately.

I'm not sure how much an iPod would cost in the context of Dragon Ball, but I'm assuming Zenni is more or less equivalent to yen. At the current exchange rate, 1 yen is about 1 cent, and a good iPod is about $300.

The little bit at the beginning with the blood and arm and the licking and whatnot was based on a dream, or rather nightmare, that I had not too long ago. For one reason or another, I was in the world of Dragon Ball during the Piccolo Daimao arc and my father was a castle guardsman. That's pretty much what happened in a nutshell.

I guess I'll update this in about a week, since I really like writing this part. It's going to get exciting (and not to mention rather violent) soon, so I recommend if you like this, stick around.


	3. Chapter 3: The 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai

Chapter 3- The 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai

Dragon Ball: Zero Era

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Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Dragon Ball, but I do own a dragon and a ball. (Well, not really)

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Author's Notes:

And here we are up to the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai! I actually spent around two hours trying to get my computer to automatically spell-check that for me, but a gave up. It doesn't have the proper punctuation (or at least the punctuation that the Viz release of the manga uses) because my computer sucks. There are a limited number of words I can add to the computer's dictionary to have it spell check them, and I've already used up all of the words I can have. The two hours was spent trying to correct the problem, but I gave up after trying for what seemed like forever.

* * *

Today was the day. The day of the Tenkaichi Budokai, the "Strongest Under the Heavens Tournament."

I got up rather early, so as to not disturb my father, who was asleep in his room. It was a short ways down the hall from my own. I walked past it a quietly as I could, but I probably should have hovered in that part of the hall. Both of us possessed hearing that was superior to a human's. If he was even somewhat awake, he was bound to hear my footsteps. I heard a grunt from his room that could only be his. "Are you going outside?" he asked from inside the room.

I opened the door a bit and walked inside. "Yes father," I replied.

It was not unusual for me to leave the castle for a few days at a time. He never had any worries about me. After all, I had inherited his strength.

"Commemoration Day is next week," he said "Did you maybe want to watch them suffer in person this year?"

Commemoration Day was a sort holiday during which my father took it upon himself to destroy one of the 43 districts of the world. It was a holiday that I always enjoyed, but had never seen in person. I had always watched it on the large television set in the castle; since it was always shown live on every channel. Father preferred me to stay at home, keeping my existence secret from public eyes. It was almost time for that secret to be broken, as people would see me on a worldwide broadcast.

"I would feel honored if you would permit that," I said.

"Then I hope you look forward to it," he said. And I did indeed. With that, he rolled over and returned to his slumber.

I slipped down the hallway to a large window at the end of it. Slowly I pulled the window up and slipped out of it. I levitated outside the window of the palace, my cape flowing slightly in the morning breeze. I flew off, going just south of the morning sun. Though my destination was nearly on the other side of the world, it took only a few hours. I arrived in time to sign up for the tournament.

A man at a table was filling out some papers for others who were waiting in line. I waited patiently for my turn to come around. The man looked up from his papers and said, "Your name, sir?"

"Pi-" I started.

No, I couldn't use my real name. People would know who I was, and likely panic if I did. Or worse yet, mistake me for my father.

"Ma Junior," I answered.

The name sounded odd, but it did make sense. "Ma" was the kanji for demon, the symbol I had once worn, and my father still did. And after all, I had been named after my father.

"Okay, and your age?"

"Three," I answered, forgetting the slow rate that humans aged at.

"Ha ha ha! Good one!" He laughed. He clearly didn't realize that I was serious. However, he did actually write down three as my age, probably as a joke.

"The preliminaries are that way," he said, pointing at a large, traditional looking building with dojo reminiscent hall inside. I walked in and found a lot of people warming up. I didn't even bother; I knew the preliminaries were going to be more a joke than a fight anyway. I might not even get an almost worthy opponent until at least the semi finals, which I was guaranteed to make.

A few minuets passed until the man who had registered me spoke into the microphone.

"Welcome to the preliminaries of this year's tri-annual Tenkaichi Budokai. Unfortunately, three of last year's competitors passed away, and will not be joining us, but we still hope to see top quality fighting this year."

I smirked and laughed to myself. No doubt people my father killed, I thought. They were probably the fools who had tried to challenge him a few years ago. Of course, since I was competing, there won't be any worries about the lack of quality fighting this year.

"We have 69 contestants this year for all corners of the globe, a lot less than last time, probably due to very high quality of fighting. We wish you all the best of luck today. I trust you have all looked over the rules. If you could please form an orderly line over by the box, we will select your preliminary number."

I silently followed his directions. While walking over into the line I took a moment to ponder the rules. There was only one that bothered me; I was not allowed to kill anyone during the matches or preliminaries. I needed to restrain my strength here, so as to not cause any "unfortunate accidents."

Two people behind me in line stood a somewhat strange looking man. His hair was long, black, and drawn back in a somewhat scruffy ponytail. On his right eye and underneath his left eye were two large scars, the second one made up of two marks and resembling an X. His gi was a yellowish orange, tied at the waist with a blue belt. There was a symbol on his gi, "Kame," meaning turtle. He glared menacingly at me, much like some of the beasts I had seen in the wilderness. But I thought him to be nothing to worry about.

As it was my turn, I reached into a box and pulled out a strip of paper. I was to be number 66, a rather fitting number. After everyone else had drawn, I stood and watched the preliminaries, to get an idea of what I was up against. Very few had a lick of talent whatsoever, but there were some exceptions. One was a rather short woman with her hair in a black ponytail, another a man who seemed to have the top half of his face made of metal, a short, overweight man with a mask on his face, two women with outfits identical to that of the man I had met earlier. One had blonde, curly hair with a sort of ribbon in it and a somewhat more muscular build; the other had long, purple hair pulled back in a clip and a slightly pursed lip. Then there was the man who was staring at me earlier. He seemed to have some amount of strength to back him up, so perhaps if he were to fight me, he wouldn't be in the hospital for more than a few months. After all, there were no rules against that. However, the only one who worried me was an odd fellow wearing glasses, a very well trimmed haircut, and a white polo. He looked very weak, but defeated one of his opponents seemingly by accident. He was probably the one I needed to worry about, if any.

"Number 65 and number 66!" the announcer shouted into the microphone. It was finally my turn. This match would surely be swift.

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Author's Notes:

We have a pretty interesting cast of characters here, don't we? If you can't figure out who all of them are just yet, their names will be in the next chapter. And two of them will probably come somewhat as shockers.

Incase you're wondering why Piccolo was happy with the number 66, it's a sort of abbreviation of 666, which is traditionally associated with evil and known as the "Number of the Beast."

As usual, expect updates in a week's time.


	4. Chapter 4: Preliminaries

Chapter 4- Preliminaries

Dragon Ball: Zero Era

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Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball as a franchise. I do however own every volume of it, and it's a miracle it all fits on my bookshelf.

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Author's Notes:

So now we're at the preliminaries for the Tenka'ichi Budokai. I promise more action in the near future! I'm sorry this was late, but I caught a cold sick.

* * *

I stepped up on to a small wooden arena. There were a few other matches going on between other people, but most of spectators seemed to be focused on me. They seemed to notice something strange, probably my appearance, and whether or not they knew it, they were right.

Another man walked on to the arena. His skin was rather dark and his black hair had small curls at the ends. There was a small red dot on his forehead that was clearly put there for one reason or another. His beard and mustache were connected and rather neatly trimmed. His clothing resembled a sort of robe with one side of his chest somewhat exposed.

"Hey, isn't that King Chappa?" one of the audience members said.

"Yeah, he is. I heard he won this tournament a long time ago," another replied.

The man bowed silently to me, though I made no movement in response. Though he seemed somewhat irked by this, he made no comment.

"Begin!" The judge yelled.

My opponent, apparently named King Chappa, took up a fighting stance with one arm back and the other in front of him to defend himself. I smirked. This match would be over quickly. He rushed at me with a swift kick and a ki'ai along with it. I did not even attempt to defend myself and the blow struck me on the side of the face. Though I felt it, it did not feel like much, like when an insect bites you. There was very little power behind the kick, at least, compared to what I could do. He drew his foot back and punched at my chest. I grabbed his punch with my hand and flicked him in the forehead with my finger. He fell black on to the floor unconscious and immobile. The judge's jaw dropped as he looked at King Chappa out cold on the floor.

"Um, what just happened?" the judge said. "Uh, victory to number 66!"

I walked off the arena, rather content with myself. If this were the best this tournament could offer, then it wouldn't be much of one. Still, my mind went back to the man with the glasses and the other with the scar. I still had a slight uneasiness about them. But they couldn't possibly be anything to worry about. After all, I was a demon, with powers far beyond that of any mere human. But I was still slightly relieved that I wouldn't have to face either of them in the preliminaries.

The entire crowd looked as awestruck as the judge. They didn't know what to think of me; my strength was worlds beyond their comprehension.

I had two other preliminary matches, and both ended as quickly. If the entire tournament went this way, it would be quite short, and somewhat boring. The seven other people who I had noticed had exceptional abilities all made it into the tournament as well.

We all waited until a man with very well combed blonde hair and a short mustache walked over to the group of us. He looked quite odd with a combination suit and sunglasses though. He was carrying a clipboard with our names written on it in his left hand. A small box with a hole in the top was under his right arm.

"Everyone, please draw a number from this box so the order of the tournament can be decided," he said. Everyone took a number from the box that he had in his hand. My number was 1, so I was to be in the first match. He wrote our names up on a board with the order the tournament would go in.

The first match was myself against a young woman named Chi-Chi. The second match was the man with the polo shirt and glasses, apparently named Shen, and the odd man with eyes like binoculars, Taopaipai. The third match was between the two similar looking women: the one with blonde hair, Lunch, and the other with purple hair, Bulma. The fourth was to be between the man who stared at me in line, Yamcha, and the short man with a mask, Yajirobe.

The tournament was set to begin in 30 minuets, enough time for the crowd to gather. The other contestants and I waited in the hall where the preliminaries were held. The only conversation was between Yamcha, Lunch, and Bulma. They seemed to be discussing what they had been doing for the past three years. Apparently, in an effort to flee from my father, they had been hiding out in the desert, training. It seemed that Yamcha had been teaching both Lunch and Bulma martial arts during that time, and they were eager to test their abilities. Yamcha made a comment about me, stating that they should be careful should they face me. At least someone here had a degree of intelligence.

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Author's Notes:

And thus ends Chapter 4! Yeah, Bulma and Lunch are going to be in the Tenka'ichi Budokai. I figure it would it would be an interesting fight. Being a girl myself, I'm a little disappointed that they never got too much spotlight throughout the series since when they were first introduced.

Other than that, it'll be interesting to see where Piccolo and Chi-Chi's fight goes, considering that Piccolo's father killed her betrothed. And she doesn't know about it.

I have a quick request. If you're out there and you're actually reading this, please review it, because I need to know that someone is. I'm thinking about starting another fanfic that'll probably be more exciting, but I'd like to finish a bit more of this first, but if no one's reading this, then that doesn't matter. If I do receive a review, then expect an update on Friday; otherwise it could be a while.


	5. Chapter 5: The First Match

Chapter 5- The First Match

Dragon Ball: Zero Era

Disclaimer: Yup, I still don't own Dragon Ball. If I ever do, expect it to be on the news.

Author's Notes: I haven't been writing this for a while in the false belief that no one reads what I write, but the fact that I've actually gotten a review encouraged me to write this. Either way, please enjoy.

I waited anxiously. I had never been in any sort of organized fighting before, let alone a tournament where the strongest in the world gathered. I knew there was nothing to be worried about, but two of the contestants, Shen and Yamcha made me slightly uneasy. But my first round, I knew, would be no trouble.

My opponent, Chi-Chi, seemed quite nervous. She was in a corner by herself, muttering something that seemed like gibberish, but that's probably attributable to her thick accent. Something about a man named "Goku." That name sounded somewhat familiar, but I could not remember where I had heard it before. She was biting her fingernails saying things about him. Then I could make out "Why ain't he here?" Who ever it was, it was apparent that she expected him to show up, though it was not clear whether she meant in the audience or the competition.

A few moments later I could hear a very loud voice coming from the arena.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for waiting! We will now begin the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, the "Strongest Under the Heavens Tournament!"

The audience cheered with excitement.

I looked out the arched doorframe to see a man in the middle of the arena. It was the same one who had had us pick the order of the tournament from the box earlier.

"Our first match is between contestants Ma Junior and Chi-Chi! Will both of the contestants please step forward?"

Chi-Chi walked towards the door, saying to herself in a hushed voice, "This is for you, Goku!"

I followed out the door. A light breeze blew by and my cape fluttered slightly in it. I took one side of the arena while she took the other. The crowed roared, like a hungry animal before a feast.

"Match number one," the announcer said into his microphone. "Begin!"

Before I knew what was going on, she made an attempt to kick me in the face. I dodged it rather smoothly, but she kept trying to hit me, with both punches and kicks. I grabbed one of her hands, but she ignored her caught fist and kicked me in the face. Though the attack didn't even faze me, it was more than the average human could muster, probably enough to shatter a boulder.

As soon as I retaliated from being hit, I shot two thin beams of ki from my eyes. She froze up from being hit by them and sparks shot out from all angles of her body. The result of the attack was much like being struck by a bolt of lighting, something that could kill a normal human. But I knew she was not quite normal, she was surprisingly strong, and would certainly survive. However, she was unconscious.

The crowd looked stunned at what I had done. Most had never seen a ki-based attack, so the result was only natural.

The announcer also looked stunned. But regardless, he stared counting. As soon as it reached ten, I would be declared winner.

"One!" he started. "Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight! Nine!" Chi-Chi twitched slightly, but did not get up. "Ten!"

"This is quite possibly the quickest match I've ever seen, but regardless, contestant Ma Junior is the winner!" The crowd didn't seem to know how to react, but they applauded my victory nonetheless.

Chi-Chi lied on the ground, still twitching. It took her a bit of effort, but she managed to get up.

"I can't believe I lost," she said to me. "You might even be stronger than Goku…"

Both of us walked quietly out of the arena into the building we had waited in before. There was no one else inside, they all were waiting along the side of the arena watching our match, and surely anticipating the next one. She sat slumped down into a corner. I walked over to her; still curious about the man she had mentioned not even a minuet ago.

"This "Goku" you keep mentioning… " I said. "Who is he?"

"Oh… ya heard me," she said. "Well, it ain't any use keepin' it a secret. His full name is Son Goku, and he told me a while ago we were gonna get married. He's really strong, so I was hopin' to find 'im here at this tournament. He got second place the last two times, so I figured he'd be back. But he isn't…"

Son Goku! No wonder that name sounded familiar. He was indeed very strong. Nearly three years ago he challenged my father. He put up a decent, but my father dodged his final blow that he had put all of his strength into. After that, it was over. My father used one of his most powerful attacks, the Bakurikimaha, to kill him.

"Son Goku is dead," I said. Her eyes began to well up with tears. "Three years ago, he was killed by Piccolo Daimao."

Her eyes poured out with tears like a faucet that had been left running for too long. And then she screamed. It was one of the most annoying sounds I had ever heard. And the worst part was, there was nothing I could do to stop it. If I killed her, I would be disqualified, as much as I would have liked to.

The man from earlier, Yamcha, rushed in.

"What did you do to her!?" He yelled at me.

"The only physical harm I brought to her was during the tournament," I said. "I merely told her that a man named Son Goku was dead."

He calmed Chi-Chi down to a dull whimper.

"Goku…" he said. "How do you know about Goku!?"

It was clear that both he and Chi-Chi had met before, and that both of the had known Son Goku.

"That's for me to know," I told him. "And perhaps by the end of this tournament, you'll know too."

Author's Notes: That's got to be the best chapter ending yet. I'm not usually that good at wrapping things up. Sorry I didn't do anything over the holidays. It wasn't just because I was lazy, I caught the swine flu and got pneumonia right after that. I didn't get better until Christmas. Oh, and a quick side note, I'm changing my updating day to Saturday, so expect a new chapter by then. You know, provided I don't catch another chronic disease.


	6. Chapter 6: The Mysterious Shen

Chapter 6- The Mysterious Shen

Dragon Ball: Zero Era

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball and or any of its many derivatives. But then again, why would I want to own Dragonball: Evolution?

* * *

Author's Notes: So I'm at the match with Shen right now. It's one of my favorite fights from the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai since it was so humorous. It's a sort of throw back to when the fights used to be more comical than serious, but it still felt serious to an extent. I hope to keep true to that.

* * *

I walked out of the preliminary building and into the area behind the arena. I flew up onto the roof and stood there, anticipating the next match.

It was to between Shen, a mysterious man who seemed to have won his matches through sheer luck, and Taopaipai, who appeared to be part mechanical. Where as Taopaipai would seem to be the stronger of the two from most people's perspectives, I knew there was something odd about Shen. It was next to impossible to have gotten past the preliminaries by getting lucky; he must have some sort of trick.

"Our next match is between contestants Shen and Taopaipai," the announcer said. "Will the two of them please step forward?" Taopaipai was the first to get to the arena. I could see him very clearly from where I stood. He had eyes resembling binoculars and robotic hands. He wore a gi, like most of the other contestants. On the front it had the symbol for "crane," the style he probably practiced, and on the back were the words "Kill You." Shen followed a moment later, stumbling when he stepped up to the arena. His glasses fell to the ground and he picked them up and cleaned them off with his shirt. Taopaipai laughed.

"This is my opponent?" he said. "What a joke!"

"You shouldn't judge your opponents by their appearance, you know," Shen said.

The announcer brought his microphone up to his face and said into it "Let the second round of the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai begin!"

Taopaipai was quick to make the first move; he jabbed at Shen's face. But Shen tripped over his own two feet, and in doing so dodged the attack. When he got back up, Taopaipai was directly above him, and his head slammed into Taopaipai's jaw.

Taopaipai winced in pain. "You little…!" he yelled.

He jumped into the air and started a kick, but Shen sneezed and his attack missed yet again.

Shen charged at Taopaipai, but ran past him tripped. His legs flailed in the air and one foot slammed against Taopaipai's groin.

"Argh!" Taopaipai yelped in pain. He grabbed his groin. The audience started to snicker, but it soon turned into a very loud laugh.

"Who are you!?" Taopaipai screamed.

Shen cupped one hand around the side of his mouth and said quietly, "I could tell you, but you'd never believe me. Keep this between the two of us, but this isn't actually my body."

I could very clearly understand what Shen was saying, though it appeared no one else could hear it. But I was very confused about what it was that he was saying. It didn't seem to make any sense. He was probably crazy. But if he said was true, it would explain the "accidents" that were supposedly just coincidence.

"What kind of crap is that!?" Taopaipai said. "Do you honestly expect me to believe that?"

"If you want, I'll fight seriously," Shen said.

"It wouldn't matter if you did!" Taopaipai fiercely replied.

He tried to strike Shen with a barrage of punches, but it did no good; Shen avoided every one of them. It seemed he actually was telling the truth, as far as being serious goes, that is. The last punch Shen grabbed.

"I've had enough of this!" Taopaipai yelled. He pulled his hand back and it came off. Underneath the robotic hand was a long, thin blade.

"I don't care if I break the rules!" he said. "I'm going to end this now!"

He tried to stab Shen with it, but like all of the other attacks, Shen got out of the way.

"That's a foul!" the Announcer said. "Shen wins this match!"

Shen hopped down from the arena, but Taopaipai still tried to harm him. He came from behind Shen's back. Shen seemed to be able to sense his presence, though, and he turned around and caught the blade between two of his fingers. Then he punched him in the stomach. Taopaipai tried to scream, but the wind was knocked out of him. He fell to the ground.

"Um, can we get a stretcher over here?" The announcer asked.

* * *

Author's Notes: Well, I hope you enjoyed that. I certainly enjoyed Taopaipai getting hit in the crotch. Next I'm going to have Bulma and Lunch fighting, something I've been looking forward to for a long time. It's the first time I haven't written a chapter a week in advance, so I'm sorry if it comes across as somewhat sloppy.


	7. Chapter 7: Yamcha's Pupils

Chapter 7- Yamcha's Pupils

Dragon Ball: Zero Era

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Dragon Ball so don't sue me.

Medical aid came almost immediately and Taopaipai was carried out. The cheered wildly. Shen was like some sort of hero.

"Um, we're going to begin match number 3," the announcer said, looking somewhat shocked at what had just happened. "It's between contestants Lunch and Bulma. If those two could please make their way on to the stage."

The two of them stepped up to the stage, side to side, looking at one another from the corner of their eyes. They had determined looks in their eyes and seemed to have some sort of rivalry against one another. When they walked on to the stage, they took their opposing sides and glared at one another. I knew as well as they did that there was more to this fight than just it being part of a tournament.

"Now then," the announcer said. "This is match number 3. Begin!"

The second the announcer finished, the two exchanged a barrage of blows the crowd could just barely see. Their ways of fighting were fierce and brutal. The first hit was punch to Lunch's jaw. The retaliation to that was a knee to the stomach. After around 20 exchanges such as this, they took a quick break and passed back into the crowd's view.

"Why don't you just give up!?" Lunch said in an annoyed manner. "Yamcha's mine, and you know that!"

"He's _been_ mine for seven years!" Bulma yelled.

Yamcha stood just outside of the ring with his jaw agape.

"That's what this is about? You've been fighting this whole time over _me_!?" Yamcha said.

"Of course!" Bulma and Lunch said in unison.

"What else would we be fighting about?" Lunch said.

Yamcha was still awestruck.

Bulma and Lunch clashed again, with their fists hitting against each other.

Bulma pulled hers back and cupped her hands together.

"This is for Yamcha!" She shouted. "Ka…"

Lunch jumped back a few meters and pulled her hands back into the same position.

"I'm going to end this!" Lunch screamed. "Ka…!"

The syllables of their words were now in unison, heavily annunciating on each one.

"Me…!" they said. Orbs of ki started to form in their hands.

"Ha…! Me…!" The orbs of ki steadily increased in size and glowed very brightly.

"HA!" The two swung their hands together out in front of them and released huge waves of bright blue ki from their palms.

"This is amazing!" the announcer said. "I thought I had seen it all six years ago when I saw the Kamehameha for the first time, but I have just been proven wrong. These young women know it too!"

The beams of ki clashed and Lunch's slowly pushed Bulma's back. Lunch's attack eventually engulfed Bulma in a wave of light.

Bulma was hit full on with the attack, not even having time to block. She was pushed back to the edge of the ring and was lying on the ground.

"Oh! She's down!" the announcer said. "One! …Two! …"

Lunch walked over to Bulma as the announcer continued to count.

"I told you Yamcha's mine," she said egotistically.

Then her nose started to twitch. "Ah… ah… achoo!" she sneezed. Her hair changed colors from blonde to blue.

The announcer, shocked by this stopped counting.

"What am I doing here?" Lunch asked.

"Um, this is the Tenkaichi Budokai. You were just in the middle of a fight," The announcer told her.

"Oh, well then I quit," Lunch said.

"Um, it appears that contestant Lunch has forfeited the match. Contestant Bulma is the winner!"

Bulma shakily stood up and looked out into the crowd, who were still confused about what happened. She held her head up proudly and walked off of the arena and greeted Yamcha.

"Hey," she said. "Which one of us do you really like?"

"Well, to be honest, I'm not really in to either of you. I already have a girlfriend."

"What!?" Bulma shouted.

"Yeah, I've been seeing her for about four years now."

"Four y-… You BASTARD! That was back when you dated _me!_"

"Ha, ha… funny how that happens hunh?

Bulma slapped Yamcha in the face.

"It's over! Lunch can have you, you cheating son of bitch!"

I was very confused about what had happened during and after the match. Why had they been referring to Yamcha possessively, and what is a "date?" But it's not all that important. What was important is that the fourth round was about to start.

Author's notes:

I really had fun writing this chapter. Akira Toriyama has stated once or twice that he can't write romance, and I'm not all that good at it either. But it does make for funny situations, as well as a very confused Piccolo. I'm sorry this was a bit late, but at least I still updated on Saturday like I said I would.


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